原文標題：
Now museum…Now you don’t
Stealing from museums is easier than you might think
As a series of thefts at the British Museum shows
博物館里的東西不見了
大英博物館里一系列失竊案表明

從博物館偷東西比想象中要容易

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GO INTO THE British Museum. Ignore the Rosetta Stone; don’t turn left for the Parthenon sculptures; don’t be seduced by the sumptuous naked statue of Venus.

當你走進大英博物館時，不要看羅塞塔石碑；不要左轉(zhuǎn)去看帕特農(nóng)神廟雕塑；不要被華麗的裸體維納斯雕像所吸引。

Instead, head up the stairs to Room 69. Here, it is quieter.

相反，直接上樓梯前往 69 號展廳。這里更安靜。

There is the usual old stuff: Greek pots; some rude Roman decorations; and a pair of wooden double doors whose brass buzzer announces, expansively, that they lead to “GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES”.

這里有一些常見的古文物：希臘陶器；一些簡陋的羅馬裝飾；還有一對木質(zhì)雙門，門上的銅質(zhì)門鈴張揚地宣告，這是通往 "希臘和羅馬古文物 "的大門。

Press it, and no one answers. They are not likely to. Because, after a series of thefts, there are fewer antiquities behind this museum’s doors than there should be.

按一下門鈴，沒人應答。他們也不可能回答。因為，在經(jīng)歷了一系列失竊事件后，這門后的古董已經(jīng)少得可憐。

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The British Museum is in trouble. Precisely how much is not yet clear.
大英博物館遇上了麻煩。具體的損失情況尚不清楚。

The museum has announced a few facts: objects dating as far back as the 15th century BC, including gold jewellery and gems, are “missing, stolen or damaged”. A staff member has been sacked.
博物館已經(jīng)公布了一些事實：失竊的文物最早可追溯到公元前 15 世紀，包括金首飾和寶石，“丟失、被盜或損壞”。一名工作人員已被解雇。

More details have, with archaeological painstakingness, been unearthed by others: it is said that the Museum first learnt of this in 2021; it is said Roman cameo gems are among the things stolen.
一些人通過考古學的嚴謹態(tài)度挖掘出更多細節(jié)：據(jù)說博物館在2021年首次獲悉此事；據(jù)說古羅馬浮雕寶石是被盜物品之一。

This might sound small—the gems are tiddly. It is not.
這聽起來似乎是小事--因為寶石微不足道。其實不然。

Dr Christos Tsirogiannis, who heads a UNESCO group on antiquities trafficking at Ionian University, says this is “probably the worst case so far…No one expects that to happen in a museum.”
愛奧尼亞大學的克里斯托·齊羅吉安尼斯博士是聯(lián)合國教科文組織打擊文物走私小組的負責人，他說，這 "可能是迄今為止最嚴重的案子......沒想到博物館里會發(fā)生這樣的事情。"

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This is less about pottery than principles. To lose one antiquity may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose hundreds looks as if you are a museum that cannot do its job.
這并不僅僅與陶器有關(guān)，更關(guān)乎原則。丟失一件文物可以看作是不幸；弄丟數(shù)百件文物就說明博物館失職。

The museum has built its reputation—and defended its collection—by arguing that it looks after things well. This would imply that it can’t.
為挽回名譽，該博物館稱認真嚴肅地對待所保管物品的安保工作。這也暗示著它無能為力。

Paul Cartledge, emeritus professor of Greek culture at Cambridge University, thinks that is overstating it: the theft of some jewels does not mean the Parthenon sculptures are unsafe.
劍橋大學希臘文化名譽教授保羅·卡特利奇認為這種說法有些言過其實：一些珠寶失竊并不意味著帕臺農(nóng)神廟雕塑不安全。

But, he says, if this was going on for some time, “How the hell was it not noticed?”
但他還說，如果這種情況已經(jīng)持續(xù)了一段時間，"怎么會沒人注意到呢？

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Equally: how the hell would it be?
同樣，這到底是怎么回事呢？

Museums are icebergs of antiquity, with the vast majority of their collections unseen.
博物館只展示了古文物的冰山一角，絕大部分藏品都是不對外展示的。

In the case of the British Museum’s 8m objects, only around 1% are usually on display.
以大英博物館的800萬件藏品為例，通常只有約1%的文物在展覽中展出。

As with humans, museums’ “one percent” tends to be glamorous and noticeable: the Parthenon sculptures, the Rosetta Stone. Steal that, and it would be noticed immediately.
與人類一樣，博物館“1%”的文物是光彩奪目的：帕臺農(nóng)神廟雕塑，羅塞塔石碑。如果偷這些東西，會立刻引起人們的注意。

Steal a tiny Roman cameo and most would be none the wiser. Other curators may not have even known they had it in the first place.
如果偷一個小小的羅馬浮雕，大多數(shù)人根本察覺不到。一些館長甚至都不知道這個東西的存在。

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Until, that is, the theft becomes known, for filched art is fascinating.
直到盜竊行為廣為人知，被盜的藝術(shù)品才引人注目。

Some of the most famous exhibits acquired their fame less from artistic merit than because they were nicked.
一些最著名的展品之所以聲名遠播，與其說是因為藝術(shù)價值，不如說是因為它們被盜走了。

The Mona Lisa, until it was stolen in 1911, was little known except to art enthusiasts; it took 26 hours for the Louvre to notice it had gone.
《蒙娜麗莎》在1911年被盜前鮮為人知，只有藝術(shù)愛好者才知道它的存在；失竊26小時后，盧浮宮才發(fā)現(xiàn)它不見了。

The British Museum knows this better than anyone: as a former curator once pointed out, the Parthenon sculptures became “this great icon of Western art because they were removed”.
大英博物館對此更有體會：正如一位前館長曾指出，帕臺農(nóng)神廟雕塑因為被拆而成為“西方藝術(shù)的偉大象征”。

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Those sculptures are one reason why these thefts are so embarrassing.
這些雕塑正是這些失竊案令人尷尬的原因之一。

The sweet savour of Schadenfreude is evident in some of the comments on the thefts.
在失竊案的一些評論中，我們可以明顯感受到幸災樂禍的滋味。

The museum, says Dr Tsirogiannis, is “having a taste of their own medicine”.

齊羅賈尼斯博士說，博物館是在 "自嘗苦果"。

For centuries, it has collected objects—to the fury of other countries, which often claim such items were stolen. “Now they find themselves being…the victims of theft.”
幾個世紀以來，博物館一直在收集文物，這讓其他國家非常惱火，因為這些國家經(jīng)常聲稱文物是英國偷的?！艾F(xiàn)在他們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己成了……被盜的受害者。”

Though if the museum ever gets these gems back they could put them on display. This time, as a star appearance, not a mere cameo.
不過，如果博物館能夠找回這些珠寶，他們可以將它們展出。這一次，它們將成為主角，而不僅僅是個小配角。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量650左右）
原文出自：2023年8月26日《The Economist》Britain版塊

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene

本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡）
大英博物館The British Museum擁有264年歷史，是倫敦的主要旅游景點之一，館內(nèi)藏品超過800萬件，每年有超過600萬人參觀。因為拒絕世界各地要求歸還大英帝國時期掠奪的歷史文物，大英博物館曾一度引發(fā)爭議。這些文物中最著名的包括雅典帕特農(nóng)神廟雕塑，希臘政府曾多次要求大英博物館歸還。

羅塞塔石碑Rosetta Stone是一種著名的古埃及石碑，由底比斯（現(xiàn)今的埃及）發(fā)現(xiàn)于1799年。它被認為是解開古埃及象形文字的關(guān)鍵，也有助于研究其他已經(jīng)失傳的古代語言。羅塞塔石碑上刻有同一句話的三種腳本：古埃及象形文字、古埃及草書和古希臘文。這使得學者有可能解讀和理解古埃及象形文字的含義，并且揭示了這種文字與古希臘文之間的關(guān)系。
【重點句子】（3個）
This is less about pottery than principles. To lose one antiquity may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose hundreds looks as if you are a museum that cannot do its job.
這并不僅僅與陶器有關(guān)，更關(guān)乎原則。丟失 一件文物可以看作是不幸；弄丟數(shù)百件文物就說明博物館失職。

Museums are icebergs of antiquity, with the vast majority of their collections unseen.
博物館只展示了古文物的冰山一角，絕大部分藏品都是不對外展示的。

Some of the most famous exhibits acquired their fame less from artistic merit than because they were nicked.
一些最著名的展品之所以聲名遠播，與其說是因為藝術(shù)價值，不如說是因為它們被盜走了。